Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T17:54:34.231Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thermal Expansion and Residual Stress in Ancient Chinese Bronze Castings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Michelle Taube  and
Blythe McCarthy
Michelle Taube
Affiliation:
[email protected], The National Museum of Denmark, Department of Conservation, I. C. Modewegsvej, Brede, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, (+45) 33 47 35 08
Blythe McCarthy
Affiliation:
[email protected], Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, P.O. Box 37012, Freer Gallery of Art, MRC707, Washington, DC, 20013, United States
Get access

Abstract

Ancient Chinese bronze vessels from the Shang to Zhou dynasties (c. 1500 - 221 BCE) were cast using piece molds. Several large vessel shapes, especially those with legs, have been found to be made in several steps with the vessel body cast onto previously-made legs or other appendages. In this situation the molten metal contacts and must attach to the solid pieces from the first casting. Similar interfaces are found at solid metal mold spacers or chaplets used in the casting process. Previous researchers showed that the casting can exhibit concentration gradients and evidence of slip in the regions around these interfaces. In this work, we studied the thermal expansion of the bronze at cast-on joints in ancient Chinese bronzes using thermomechanical analysis (TMA). The results are compared with those from reference lead-tin bronze alloys.

Keywords

castingthermal stressesCu
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1047: Symposium Y – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology VIII , 2007 , 1047-Y02-07
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Chase, W. T., Ancient Chinese Bronze Art: Casting the precious sacral vessel (China Institute in America, New York 1991).Google Scholar
2. Gettens, R. J., The Freer Chinese Bronzes, Vol. II, Technical Studies (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1969).Google Scholar
3. Materials Characterization by Thermomechanical Analysis, ASTM STP 1136, edited by Riga, A. T. and Neag, C. M. (American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, 1991).Google Scholar
4. Hanson, D. and Pell-Walpole, W. T., Chill-cast Tin Bronzes (Edward Arnold & Co., London 1951).Google Scholar
5. Chase, W.T. in Ancient & Historic Metals: Conservation and Scientific Research, edited by Scott, D.A., Podany, J. and Considine, B.B., (Getty Conservation Institute, Marina del Rey, CA, 1994) pp. 85-117.Google Scholar
6. Metals Handbook, Vol. 8, 8th ed., edited by Lyman, T. (Metals Park, OH: American Society for Metals, 1973).Google Scholar
7.Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry, 8th edition: Copper (System No. 60, B1) and Lead (System No. 47, B1, C1), (GMELIN Institute for Inorganic Chemistry of the Max-Planck-Society for the Advancement of Science, Frankfurt, Germany).Google Scholar
8. Metals Reference Book, Vol. III, 4th ed., edited by Smithells, C. J. (Plenum Press, New York, 1967).Google Scholar
9. CRC Handbook of Physical Properties of Rocks, edited by Sumino, Y. and Anderson, D. L. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 93, 1984).Google Scholar
10. Sidot, E., Kahn-Harari, A., Cesari, E. and Robbiola, L., Mat. Sci. Engr. A 393, 147–156 (2005).Google Scholar
11. Taube, M., King, A. H. and Chase, W. T., Phase Transitions 81(2-3), 217–232 (2008).Google Scholar